Visitors: May 30-June 1, 2014

East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis defensive tackle headlines an impressive group of campus visitors (image via Maxpreps)

2015
Terry Beckner, Jr. - DE - East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Beckner is a 6'4", 293 lb. prospect with offers from all over the country and a top group that includes Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, and USC, with Missouri the declared leader. He's a 247 Composite 5-star, the #3 strongside end, and #21 overall. Beckner started off as an end prospect but with the size he's already added, he's more likely to play defensive tackle, in my opinion. Michigan's coaching staff does not seem to be recruiting defensive tackles heavily in the 2015 class, but they would almost surely take a commitment from someone as talented as Beckner, regardless of his position.

Miles Boykin - WR - New Lenox (IL) Providence Catholic: Boykin is a 6'4", 212 lb. prospect with offers from Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, and Oregon, among others. He's 247 Composite 4-star, the #22 wide receiver, and #185 overall. Boykin visited Michigan for the spring game in early April and was offered shortly thereafter. He was supposed to visit next week but changed plans.


Natereace Strong - RB - East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Strong is a 6'1", 210 lb. prospect who committed to Missouri in April; he also has offers from Florida State, Illinois, Michigan State, and Ohio State. He's a 247 Composite 4-star, the #18 running back, and #238 overall. As a junior in 2013, he had 67 carries for 595 yards and 5 touchdowns. He's pretty solid in his commitment and wants to stay close to home so his family members can see him play, but you never know what might happen with a good campus visit. Michigan has been expanding its running back offer list, and Strong would seem to fit in line with what Michigan wants - a big, physical running back with good straight line speed.

2016
Brendan Ferns - LB - St. Clairsville (OH) St. Clairsville: Ferns is a 6'3", 223 lb. prospect with offers from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Pitt, Virginia, and West Virginia. He's a 247 Sports 4-star, the #5 athlete, and #51 overall. He's also the younger brother of current Michigan freshman linebacker Michael Ferns. Despite no offer from either school, Penn State was considered to be ahead of Michigan early in the process. He will be getting a visit from the coaching staff early this week and then heading up to campus at the end of the week.

2017
Jeff Thomas - WR - East St. Louis (IL) East St. Louis: Thomas is a 5'10", 170 lb. prospect with offers from Florida State, Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Texas A&M. As a freshman in 2013, he had 54 catches for 944 yards and 12 touchdowns. He claims a 4.45 forty time. Michigan was his first offer and he grew up as a Michigan fan, so that was a big deal for him. This will be his first time on campus. As you may have noticed, he will be visiting with teammates Beckner and Strong. Michigan also recruited East St. Louis in 2014 with an offer to linebacker Kyron Watson (Kansas).